The CDC's webpage on the topic last time I bothered checking it had a list for ~18 papers it claimed supported mask efficacy. Not one was a prospective randomized clinical trial. They presented a long list of the scientific equivalent of circumstantial evidence and inference as if it were "proof". It's not.
My simple test at doctor's offices is this: "please show me the box with the masks. I'd like to see that the mask you're using is FDA approved for the purpose of stopping viral transmission." All you need is that statement. It's not legal to put it on the box without having proven it. So, let's look at the box and see what it says.... and inevitably, there is a statement that says the mask does not stop viruses, because that statement is also required by law. Usually that ends the discussion.
The CDC's webpage on the topic last time I bothered checking it had a list for ~18 papers it claimed supported mask efficacy. Not one was a prospective randomized clinical trial. They presented a long list of the scientific equivalent of circumstantial evidence and inference as if it were "proof". It's not.
My simple test at doctor's offices is this: "please show me the box with the masks. I'd like to see that the mask you're using is FDA approved for the purpose of stopping viral transmission." All you need is that statement. It's not legal to put it on the box without having proven it. So, let's look at the box and see what it says.... and inevitably, there is a statement that says the mask does not stop viruses, because that statement is also required by law. Usually that ends the discussion.
u/#kek